A Trip Around Baja California: How To Do It The Best Way

Comprehensive travel guide for nomads

Welcome to Baja California!

The side of California that many have not heard of, the other side, the one that is far from an overcrowded urbanized land. Here, the wild is thriving, and we have come to admire it!

Sneak a peek at our tour around this beautiful peninsula and learn how to travel around it while enjoying its abundance of preserved wild nature, perhaps, your dream vacation destination.

1. Tijuana

We arrived in Tijuana, Baja California from Vancouver, Canada, in December. It was winter, but only for the locals.

We did not wander much, and the first things on our list were big juicy fresh coconuts, followed by nutritious meals and some local groceries full of fresh greens.

There are two restaurants that we can recommend in Tijuana. The first one is Alma Verde, and it has a few vegan options. The second one is Inspiracion9 and is vegan only. Both places have great food, with the former being in a much fancier style. However, if you want to search for a restaurant, I recommend the app HappyCow.

When we arrived in Tijuana, the freshwater supply was the only thing that made us nervous, given the fact that plastic bottles are not an option for us. Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised by the Water Purification stations all around Baja California, and Mexico. We learned about them and many more from the app iOverlander, so we suggest you download and explore it if you are a full-time traveler!

We headed directly to one of those and filled up our 100 liters tank with purified potable water for less than 30 pesos!

Tijuana is quite overcrowded. Traffic jams were insane, so we escaped the madness of this border city after spending only a day or two there!

2. National Park — Sierra de San Pedro Mártir

We drove south through Ensenada but didn’t stop anywhere in this city. Instead, we drove directly south of Ensenada to a viewpoint called La Bufadora. Since Baja California was still new for us we slept on private land, which was designated as camp. It was quite creepy, but beautiful place with amazing sunset behind the cliffs.

Waking up at 4 am is one of our favorite things, especially when there is a long road ahead of us. Our final point was Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park in the mountain range of Baja California. The road from La Bufadora to the National Park took us approximately 5 hours and it was the first time that we would drive through desert-like landscapes.

The main reason we headed off to this national park was to see some California condors. It turned out that it was too cold up there and the New World vultures had migrated lower. Anyway, we saw thousands of condors perched on cactuses in the deserts or flying around the shores, so you will probably see them there as well. The national park is worth the visit, though, and you can even camp there as long as you have paid the entree fee.

3. Volcanito Beach

Volcanito Beach is not your ordinary tourist destination. It is a beautiful and mostly uninhabited reserve and protected area for pelicans. However, just as with the condors, we saw those animals anywhere else but there.

You will see a few locals living there, some fishermen and travelers who seek peace. To get there, you have to drive through a dirt road, approximately 1–2 hours depending on your vehicle — we did it for about 2 hours with the camper, but it was worth the visit.

If you want to go to the farthest part of the beach, you will need 4x4 and sand driving skills. We camped at the beginning. The sunset is beautiful, and the sun goes down directly into the ocean.

4. Bahaia Los Angeles

Firstly, the most critical part — in case you have a diesel tank, we suggest that you take some extra diesel with you. There are only two gas stations in Bahaia de Los Angeles, and both were out of diesel when we were leaving. We drove on our last fuel for 70km, and we ended up searching for diesel from householders on the way to Rosarrio — luckily, we found some, but the overall story is full of drama and stress.

Bahaia de Los Angeles is quite a secluded area. The way there and back is only one, so if you wonder if the trip is worth taking, we can assure you that this place went much beyond our expectations. Plus, the road is new, and there is no traffic at all.

The road there is full of excitement as the desert-like cactus landscapes reveal in-front of your eyes. The desert will awaken your inspiration, and you probably will want to stop numerous times if you are a photography-junkie like us. Concerning this, we recommend you to plan an early departure and stick up to it.

La Gringa is another amazing pebbly beach there. The waters are turquoise blue, which contemplates you to dive in and explore the marine life in the Sea of Cortez. We saw roadrunners on the way there, and the crystal clear water was full of starfishes, pelicans were diving around, and beautiful herons were flying above.

P.S. If any of the locals recommend you visit Mission San Borja, be prepared. The way there, from La Gringa is roughly 3–4 hours, depending on your vehicle, 4x4 required. The best option is to make a loop — either before coming to Bahia de Los Angeles or leaving. Don’t undertake this as a day trip, as we did. There is a lot of history, but if you don’t speak Spanish, you won’t understand anything, so have this in mind as well.

5. Valle de los Cirios Nature Reserve

After Bahia de Los Angeles, we drove back halfway and then south to Guerro Negro where our only mission was to visit the Valle de Los Cirios Nature Reserve.

This reserve is home to one of the fastest animals in the whole world — the berrandos, also known as antelopes. Once abundant in Baja California, the berrandos has become endangered.

These are the coordinates for the reserve — 28.03893, -113.98148. There is also a signboard on the road if you come from the north. The place is not a tourist destination, but they do have opening hours, and if you are visiting between those, they will take you for a drive around the ranch where you can see the antelopes and photograph them from some distance.

It’s a great place to visit if you love nature, animals, or if you travel with kids. There is no entrance fee, but be sure to leave a tip from kindness to the guard!

6. Guerro Negro — Laguna Ojo de Liebre

Laguna Ojo de Liebre is approximately 3km long lagoon with a campsite and many palapas. Its main attraction is whale watching during the winter season between late December to early April when it appears to be the whale mating season, and many whales migrate there.

The drive from Guerro Negro is approximately 40minutes long, and the road is very acceptable and accessible at the same time. It goes through salt fields and is only open when the whale watching tours begin.

However, almost everything outside the designated campsites was a restoration area, and the crossing was not allowed. Therefore, access to the beach was not easy, though the camp is 10m from the beach shore.

We spend Christmas Eve at Laguna Ojo de Liebre, and the whales were not there yet, nor were any campsite supervillains or boat captains, but we had a wonderful and peaceful time out of the society. Nevertheless, we saw many whales in the south, without going on a boat tour, so it’s nothing to be missed.

7. Bahía Concepcíon

After Laguna Ojo de Liebre we headed down to Bahía Concepción — one of the most visited places in Baja California due to its majestic beaches lying on the Gulf of California.

The road was a bit boring compared to what we went through during the previous days, but the four hours drive went fast anyway. We camped directly on the beach at Playa De Naranjos, where the spectacular sunset landscape came with pelicans fishing wildly and many dolphins jumping very close to the shore. Plus a bonus, you can watch the sunrise from this place, too.

If you don’t like the Narajnos campground, there is another one just off the highway, which is also directly on the gulf and has this beautiful view from the picture above with many small islands around and turquoise water. Though the beach is tiny-tiny, it is a great place to socialize with locals, buy fresh seafood, and snorkel.

8. Juncalito Beach

With some of the best landscapes in Baja California, this beach is not be missed. The mountain range around is astonishing, plus camping on the pebble beach is free and it comes with a great ocean view. It can be a bit windy, but there are many places to hide between the palm trees.

You will be probably lucky to see many different birds such as herons, pelicans, egrets, and cormorants. You can take a walk up the hills and find some beautiful rocks leading down to secluded rocky spots. But be careful, as there are snakes around.

A little bit souther is a camp called Puerto Escondito Marina, where you can do laundry and enjoy fast wi-fi, so if those are your needs go ahead and visit it. You will see the same mountain range from there as well. Another beach to stop by is Ligui beach where you can see the mountain range from a different angle.

9. La Paz

We arrived at La Paz after approximately a 5hours drive, and we didn’t want to enter the city in the dark, so we camped at the first camp called Campestre Maranatha.

The place is top as they had good wi-fi connection, hot showers, and a security guard. We stopped there for a day and planned our south trip to Baja California.

We did not spend time in La Paz at all as it felt overcrowded. The only place we visited was El Serpentario — this is home to some rescued wildlife, we saw some iguanas and snakes. There were rescued birds and other animals, too, and it is a nice place to visit if you are traveling with kids.

10. Todos Santos — Las Tortugas Beach

From La Paz, we went straight to Todos Santos! Parked the camper on Las Tortugas beach and headed directly to the Turtle Greenhouse.

We arrived specially for the sunset and the turtle release “ceremony” The beach was overcrowded, with at least 100–200 people waiting for the turtle release at sunset.

We certainly recommend this experience, as the beach is magical, and the sun submerges directly into the ocean. Plus, the turtle release is a powerful and joyful event, one you should not miss if you are passing around there. Additionally, you can volunteer as well, but you have to talk to the responsible people!

You can camp directly on the beach parking, as we and some other travelers did. Enjoy your stay, and don’t forget to take some warm clothing and blankets for the turtle release as this can happen about an hour after sunset, and the wind might blow your mood away.

11. Punta La Tinaja — Beach

From Todos Santos we headed down to a waterfall called Arroy. It was quite hard to find the entrance from the highway, but after we found it, thanks to some locals, it all went easy. However, be aware that the road is very sandy and it requires a 4WD!

After the waterfall, we headed to Cabo de Lucas, but after seeing three whales breaching and spreading water into the ocean we took the first possible turn down, after the 93rd km, and we ended up on a gorgeous beach called Punta La Tinaja.

The place was rich in wildlife! We saw many whales but unfortunately, tourist boats were chasing them every day and this was very disturbing even for us! The boats always leave the ocean somewhere after 11 am and the whales are left alone, though!

Moreover, even before the magic of the whales has finished, another one began — we heard sea lions moaning, just as if they were calling to us — “Come see us, we are here too!” We went for a walk on the beach and found an abundance of sea lions chilling on the rocks. It was our first time to see sea lions in Baja California. Needless to say, they were cuteness overload, especially those baby ones.

12. Cabo de Lucas

Of course, we went to the Arch of Cabo, a beach devoted to the enamored ones. However, there was a small issue! To get there from the public side, you have to take a boat-taxi or climb insane hills, not recommended. But of course, we found the mouse hole and skipped both.

Here is how — we drove to the hotels’ side and parked on a big parking lot before the entrance of the last one. The security guard told us that this is for hotel members, but we kindly disregarded that, and so did he. We passed through the hotel yard walking, which is allowed, and ended up on the beach.

From there, we walked a few minutes to the cliffs and climbed them. This climb was easy, fun, and spectacular, and many people were doing it as well! Compared to the hill on the opposite side of the beach, this felt like a baby walk.

After passing the rocks, gorgeous landscapes and pure turquoise water revealed in front of our eyes. I advise you to do this small hike early morning and enjoy the rest of the day at the beach but do not forget to stock up with snacks and water! There was nothing, except for a Mexican guy selling cold beer, who might not be there at your visit!

13. San Jose de Cabo

After Cabo Lucas, we stopped by the Bird Sanctuary at Cabo del San Jose. On the way there, we bought coconuts from the coco van-booth on the highway. It seems to be there every day!

The bird sanctuary is beautiful and very peaceful. There are many bird species, and the walk around was very relaxing. If you need a place to crash on, we squatted the parking next to the Hotel Inn. It’s private property with horses, but it’s just next to the bird sanctuary, and it’s 200m from the beach!

14. Playa San Jose del Cabo-Cabo Pulmo (TOP OF THE TOP)

After we stocked up with some plant-based food, we headed to a secluded beach on street Playa San Jose del Cabo-Cabo Pulmo.

We spend a full day on the beach for the first time, which we prolonged to a week! It is our favorite one! If you go there, we suggest you stop just after the permanent camping guy. The road gets messy forward, and in our opinion, it is not worth it.

15. Cabo Pulmo National Park

We took the dirt road from Cabo de San Jose towards Cabo Pulmo. At times it was a washboard road, others we could drive at a slow but fluent pace. The scenery of this road is picturesque. You can stop almost in each kilometer and always park directly on the beach.

The most famous beach in this national park is called Los Frailes — it’s 9 km before Cabo Pulmo when coming from the south. The beach was full of campers and overlanders, but that’s of no surprise as there are many places for snorkeling and exploring the marine life by yourself.

There is a small village near by Los Frailes and few Scuba diving schools. We did the scuba diving, not for us, got frozen, didn’t saw nothing. However, if you decide to go there, stock up good with food and water, as there is not much of a choice!

16. San Jorge — Hot Springs

After our freezing scuba dive experience, we had to warm up somewhere, so we decided to take a small detour and go a hundred kilometers down south into the Mediterranean.

We knew about the hot springs at San Jorge and decided to give them a try. To get there, you drive on a dirt road for around 10km, but be aware that the last 3–5 km are very rough, and we would recommend a 4WD.

Is this drive worth the hassle? It depends on what you expect. If you are longing for seclusion and privacy, we would probably recommend you go further north and follow our next stop, but if you would like to experience some hot spring pools in an oasis-like landscape, then maybe San Jorge Hot Springs is your place to go.

However, have in mind that it might be overcrowded. We went there around 4:00 pm, and many cars were leaving, but so were coming too. Additionally, the place was full, and there were several groups of school camps.

If you decide to go there, be aware that there is some symbolic price for a fee, but the campsite was 200 pesos per person. And given the fact that there is absolutely nothing in return, it sounds ridiculously unreasonable. Anyway, you can always camp for free a little bit lower from the place. Therefore, we leave it entirely to you to decide whether or not this detour is worth taking.

P.S. There is another very known Mediterranean place before the hot springs at San Jorge. It’s the Zorra Canyon or Fox Canyon. We did not go there, as the dirt road to San Jose was enough for us, and by reading some comments, we decided that we have better things to do and headed directly back to the beach instead.

17. La Ventana

There is a little bit of everything in La Ventana.

Firstly, this small village is known for its propitious wind conditions, which have made it something like the kite-surf capital of Baja California.

Secondly, it is home to one of the most majestic natural hot springs ever. The water springs out directly under the sand and the stones on the beach. Many go there to dig their hot springs equipped with shovel, compressor, and pipes, but luckily for us, who only pass by, there is no need for these tools, as there are already few readily available stone pools with different water temperatures.

Be aware that sometimes the water is that hot that you can not even touch it, and since the place is natural, the laws of nature apply — you can only access those hot pools at low tide, so the best time to go there is early-late afternoon.

La Ventana is full of travelers, and especially with kite-surfers, but if you would like to camp by yourself and enjoy more secluded beaches, you can continue up from the hot springs beach, and after a kilometer or two, you will find yourself in full tranquility surrounded by beautiful flowers and many butterflies.

But! If you search for the opposite, there is some nightlife happening at Playa Central, where you can enjoy every night’s different parties. To add-in, they had the cheapest kite-surf lessons, and after we have taken a few hours, we can certainly recommend their teachers.

18. La Paz — Pichillingue Port

Sometimes, led by impulses, we undertake unexpected decisions. Such was the decision was to leave Baja California in the middle of January and to rush for an event organized nearby Acapulco, Mexico, on the Pacific coast.

We decided that we want to leave the peninsula on a Thursday morning. After checking Baja Ferries, we found out that they had a departure at 8:00 pm the same day. We almost teleported at the Pichilingue port from La Ventana. However, the boarding wasn’t fast for us!

To enter the mainland, we needed to obtain the TIP document, by which the importation of the car is allowed. The Banjercito issues this document in a matter of minutes. But only if you have the paper of the immigration office! This is the small piece of paper, which they give you at the airport and you are obliged to preserve until leaving the land, if lost you will be charged.

Note to self — if you lose it, you have to issue a new one at the INM in La Paz, if the INM is closed, you can always jump to the airport in La Paz, but this might take longer.

However, once we obtained the TIP document from the Banjercito, we thought everything would go fluently, but that was not the case. Passing the car check was fast and easy, however buying our tickets for the ferry became a pain in the a$$, as the payment terminal of Baja Ferries did not accept any of our bank cards, nor did the only ATM there.

Ordering and paying tickets online was not possible, if the departure was on the same day, we never understood how come as the website was giving us this option. However, after 2 hours of total exhaustion, the tickets seller managed to connect us with customer service on the phone through which we made our payment.

Be prepared! Everything could go just as fluent as it should’ve, if only we knew about the immigration paper required for the TIP and if we had some sufficient cash in the pockets!

The ferry to Mazatlan costed 14.000peso for an RV and two people, no cabin, no shower. However, inside was very comfortable. It felt almost as if we were at a cinema for a few hours with them comfy chairs and them big LCD screens.

Plus, we turned out to be at the end of the ship, and there was an empty room. People slept on the floor there. So bring some yoga mats, sleeping sacks, and blankets and enjoy this trip like a boss. Oh, and don’t forget to take some food with yourself if you are not a fan of Mexican cuisine or unhealthy snacks.

Below, you can watch my video with our travel adventures from the peninsula and see more from the places I’ve talked about in this article!

P.S. So this is how we made our tour de Baja, and since I know some of you might be interested in our diesel costs, here they are: We spent around $500 for 400 liters of diesel for approximately two months of travel, though I did not write the exact km we did in general, they were a lot!

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